Abstract: Sport companies frequently make product claims in advertisements to influence consumer purchase decisions. Sport beverages, in particular, often tout health benefits and performance claims. Unfortunately, some sport beverage claims may be false or misleading, persuading consumers to erroneously purchase products due to incorrect information. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) prohibits any deceptive advertising resulting in a material effect on the consumer. Consumer behaviorists, however, rarely consider the FTC’s guidelines in measuring consumer deception. Therefore, drawing upon consumer behavior theory and the FTC’s guidelines, this paper examines the material effects of deceptive sport beverage advertisements. The authors identify and define three types of materiality: cognitive, affective, and behavioral. Employing a within-subjects experimental design, two studies were conducted: print and Facebook. The results reveal both types of deceptive advertisements had positive and statistically significant effects on all three types of materiality. These findings substantiate the determination of a violation by the National Advertising Division (NAD) and support further investigation of deceptive sport beverage advertising and marketing practices by the FTC.
Topic: Consumer behavior
Do Human Values matter for Promoting Brands on Social Media?: How Social Media Users’ Values influence their Engagement with Sharing, Content Creation and Reviews
Abstract: Social media-based consumer engagement behaviors, such as sharing, content creation and reviews for brands as more valuable than “liking” or consuming brand content. As consumers trust consumer-driven recommendations more than advertising, brand content shared or created by consumers on social media may drive brand awareness and loyalty. Marketing researchers and practitioners are only recently beginning to understand social media audiences who engage in such behaviors. This is the first study that posits that human values can be used to identify and segment audiences for social media-based brand activities. Three online surveys were conducted with Facebook, Twitter and Instagram users (millennial users, ages 18-34) on Amazon Mechanical Turk (N=491). The relationship between social media users’ values and their reported social media activities were examined. Findings indicate that the human values examined (conservation, self-enhancement, openness to change, self-transcendence) are indeed important drivers of valuable brand-related activities. Specifically, conservation-driven users are most likely to engage in brand sharing and creation activities. Companies should also target conservation-driven users for promotions, self-enhancement-driven users for informational content and reviews, and openness to change-driven users for content creation (user-generated content). Companies should further highlight their corporate social responsibility efforts as there is a negative relationship between self-transcendence values and brand activities. Recommendations are provided on how companies can address users’ values in their social media-based marketing to motivate sharing of branded content (information, promotions, reviews, ads and stories) and creation of brand content (UGC and reviews).
The role of social categorization of models on visual attention to features of print advertisements
Abstract: Recent trends in consumer behavior have resulted in brands’ use of models in ads that challenge essentialized social categories (e.g., racially ambiguous) to appeal to socially-conscious consumers. Although industry outlets propose tentative suggestions for mechanisms underlying positive responses to these models, little empirical research investigates how different aspects of social identity (e.g., race, gender) are associated with responses. Using a theoretical framework of social categorization (Macrae & Bodenhausen, 2000), the present experimental research used eyetracking to examine if visual attention to models in ads differs on the basis of social identity presentation and how attention is associated with consumer behavior measures like purchase intention. For ads with socially ambiguous models, it is expected that participants will demonstrate more attention to the model and less attention to the logo compared to ads with socially unambiguous models. A research question asks about the relationship of attention to these features with purchase intention.
The role of social categorization of models on visual attention to features of print advertisements. International Communication Association
Abstract: Recent trends in consumer behavior have resulted in brands’ use of models in ads that challenge essentialized social categories (e.g., racially ambiguous) to appeal to socially-conscious consumers. Although industry outlets propose tentative suggestions for mechanisms underlying positive responses to these models, little empirical research investigates how different aspects of social identity (e.g., race, gender) are associated with responses. Using a theoretical framework of social categorization (Macrae & Bodenhausen, 2000), the present experimental research used eyetracking to examine if visual attention to models in ads differs on the basis of social identity presentation and how attention is associated with consumer behavior measures like purchase intention. For ads with socially ambiguous models, it is expected that participants will demonstrate more attention to the model and less attention to the logo compared to ads with socially unambiguous models. A research question asks about the relationship of attention to these features with purchase intention.
Effects of Social Identity and Schadenfreude on Attitude toward Brand Sponsoring an Instant Replay Review: The Moderating Role of Rivalry and Suspense
Abstract: Used during sport games to guard against incorrect calls by referees, instant replay review has provided sponsoring brands an additional advertising opportunity. Although instant replay video (IRV) encourages sport spectators to stay focused on the screen, no study has examined how viewer perception of and attitude toward an ad or brand tied to IRV are formed or how such formations might vary in different circumstances. Applying Social Identity Theory and the concept of schadenfreude (i.e., the experience of joy when observing another’s misfortune), the current study examined sport fan perceptions of an IRV-sponsoring ad and its sponsoring brand. Results from an experiment using a 2 (rivalry level: high vs. low) × 2 (suspense level: high vs. low) between-subjects design revealed that the positive emotion induced by a negative instant replay outcome for the opposing team (i.e., schadenfreude) led to positive attitude toward the ad (Aad-IRV) and the sponsoring brand (Ab-IRV). Importantly, the results indicate that the effects of schadenfreude on Aad-IRV were greater when the level of rivalry was higher. Participants exposed to the high rivalry game condition showed a stronger relationship between schadenfreude and Aad-IRV than the low rivalry game group. In addition, when the participants felt high suspense during the game, the schadenfreude resulting from a negative outcome of the rivalry team produced a significantly positive effect on Aad-IRV. However, no such schadenfreude effect was observed in the low suspense situations. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.